1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the packaging and/or protecting consumer products such as automobiles and the like during the shipping thereof. More particularly, the present invention provides a system of exterior protection for automobile exterior body surfaces and like critical impact areas subject to damage during shipment by impact from rocks, other vehicles, shipping transports and the like.
2. General Background and Prior Art
A problem facing the auto and vehicle industry is the shipment of vehicles, particularly automobiles and trucks, from the assembly plant or like manufacturing facility to the dealership or distributor for sale to the consumer.
Vehicles are often damaged on the exterior due to undesirable contact made by a foreign surface with the painted exterior surface of the vehicle or with the vehicle glass windows or mirrors. The result is a wasteful expense created by such damage which must be paid by the manufacturer or dealer and then passed to the consumer. The damage incurred can also be assessed in the terms of inconvenience to the consumer and time lost by the labor in touching up the damages incurred.
At present, styrofoam or foam blocks are used by some auto manufacturers placed on the front bumpers of the automobiles they manufacture. The foam block is secured with a length of nylon tape and a metal clamp to the bumper. Upon arrival at the dealership or final destination, and prior to sale, the styrofoam strip is severed using a cutting tool. The entire exterior body of a vehicle is presently unprotected from possible damage to the painted or glass surfaces. It is these exterior body surfaces and windows which are highly susceptible to damage during shipping. The particular automobile can be chipped or damaged simply by the opening of doors as it is sporadically occupied and driven on or off transport trucks, or into/out of various temporary warehouses or yards on its journey to the receiving dealer.
Vandalism unfortunately takes a high toll on vehicles as they are shipped. Most vehicle transports (whether by highway or rail) are relatively open structures, being an assembly of connected structural steel members with the vehicles readily accessible. For some reason, railroad cars holding vehicles are a particular "target" for vandals who throw rocks at the vehicle windows as the unmanned rail cars pass through various hostile environments often at relatively low speed and occasionally stopping. Rocks thrown in this manner can break windows, or strike the vehicle body causing dents, paint chipping and the like. It is to this problem that the present invention is directed.